


10 20 40

by nightrunning



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Finger Sucking, Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Praise Kink, Riding, Rough Kissing, Teasing, also Erron Black is there peripherally and you can decide if he's clueless or not, pining? in my kano/kabal fic? its more likely than you think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 05:57:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19823962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightrunning/pseuds/nightrunning
Summary: Kano was real glad to see Kabal at the end of a shitty night - not that he needed to know that, exactly. Not in so many words. Set before the events of 11 (at some point).





	10 20 40

A half-step turned into a stumble and Kano only just about managed to catch himself. He’d expected the warehouse doors to be locked - and they damn well  _ should’ve _ been, but half the Black Dragon couldn’t find their cocks to take a piss, let alone figure out how a key and a door and a lock played together. He swore.

Luckily, nobody had been around to see. Kano shut up shop behind him and tossed a blade into a broken crate that was collecting old bottles, reducing two to bits. The insufferable smirk on Erron Black’s face didn’t bear thinking about. Or that yokel drawl of his.  _ Nice trip? _

Smug bastard. He kept the second knife close to hand, tossing it up, catching it in a grip tight enough around the hilt to bite into his fingers. Kano set his jaw and kicked aside a knot of old cables.

The place stank like stale air and dust, which hopefully meant nobody had come sniffing around. A bit of good news, that. Not enough to make up for the shitstorm that had been today, but small debts added up eventually, one way or another. Kano made his way grimly into the gut of the defunct warehouse, past the peeling chrome on the walls into a narrower corridor. He’d had high hopes for the pair he’d sent off a week ago. Just a drop-off, nothing complicated.

He snorted. There was no end to the clowns in Mavado’s circus, evidently.

Kano kept one step ahead of the lights that flickered awake a second after he flipped the switches set into dirty plastic on the wall. The overhead buzz passed awful close, but the warehouse was safe enough. Only a few of the lads knew of it, seeing how it lacked the  _ facilities _ that would have made it a more popular haunt. A bar might’ve been nice.

He’d braced a hand on the door leading into the stockroom when the silence broke. A visitor, then? Kano’s adrenaline was cold and heavy and primed, though he wished he hadn’t just lobbed away one of his knives.

Pushing the door open a sliver, he peeked around and blinked. It was dark in there, an old vaunted room as empty as it was big. They’d cleared the shit out a while back. Dog’s job, that.

The plan had been to keep some bikes here. It hadn’t happened. Two dark shapes caught Kano’s eye and after a moment of silent observation, he exhaled. One was a stack of pallets and crates, and the other was marginally less wooden.

_ How’s this for a surprise? _

Maybe Kabal’s mother had told him he’d grow into that coat one day. He worked the stack, striking high with an arc of his linked hookswords in a motion that managed to stay tight and grand all at once. A flick of his wrist and the momentum called them back to his hands; a nasty cut that’d open a real man’s throat in a blink. The wooden pile didn’t stand a chance.

A smile turned the corner of Kano’s lips. It’d been a good while since they’d run into one another. Three weeks at least. The longer he watched, the more the smile grew. All this baton-twirling was ridiculous. Kabal might as well have put bells on the damn hooks, too.

Admittedly, a part of Kano wanted to hit the lights and scare him shitless. A bigger part of him preferred a close encounter and a slower game. He went quietly through the double doors and made sure they closed softly against the palm of his hand. It was easy enough to stalk Kabal, focused as he was, sticking to the shadows of the old shelves they’d thought they might fill. Everything the warehouse held had either been sold off or binned, and they’d broken the forklift within a week.

Kabal had paused to pick over his next move. He took a measured breath in the dark and Kano struck before he could let it out again, catching him around the neck.

‘Well, look who it is!’

And then it all happened rather fast.

With a growl, Kabal tore out of Kano’s grasp and caught him above the shoulder with a wicked strike that stung like all hell. A red line wept along Kano’s collarbone, and he winced when he pressed two fingers to it.

‘Kano?’

‘In the flesh,’ he said, grimly. His fingers came away bloody.

Kabal scoffed, and his expression settled into that sour frown he wore more often than not these days. ‘D’you have a deathwish now?’

The lad didn’t quite have the same bite as his weapons. ‘I could ask you the same, smacking your boss.’

‘That was his own damn fault.’

Kano held a deepening frown just long enough to see a thread of apprehension catch in Kabal’s eyes - then split into a grin. Huffing, Kabal looked away and let his shoulders slump. His chest rose and fell more heavily than the grace of all that dancing around would’ve suggested. Kano pushed him, open-palmed and playful.

‘Oh, c’mon! Anyone would think you’re not happy to see me!’

‘God forbid.’

‘Anyway, why’re you skulking around here with no good reason?’

‘Now who’s not happy to see who?’ Kabal tilted his head and arched a brow. He’d done a hell of a lot of clucking when the job rolled in a while back.  _ I can handle it, _ he’d said, standing over Kano’s desk at the club,  _ you need to trust me, I’m the right guy. _ Hot air and a lot of bullshit, but Kano had given in on the promise of… promise.

There was something in him, it just needed coaxing out and a bit of a spit-polish. 

‘I thought you’d be out another week at least,’ Kano said, pressing a thumb against one of the fresh bruises on Kabal’s bicep. He didn’t flinch. ‘Things can get awful complicated when weapons are involved. Guns do nasty things to these people,’

Kabal nodded, humming his agreement. It was a pretty bit of black dealing in a market they’d been hoping to flip since the last winter thawed the city out. Luckily for them, spring did nothing to dull the fear of Outworld or the Netherrealm.

‘Well,’ he started, and raked back his hair. ‘Maybe you won’t underestimate me next time. It’s taken care of.’

Kano pulled his hand away and lowered his voice. They were huddled in the corner of the stockroom, and the empty air seemed to swell in close. ‘What’s the cut?’

Kabal’s gaze was steadfast, to his credit. ‘Seventy-five twenty-five,’ he said, rolling his shoulders uncomfortably. ‘And yeah, before you ask, I tried to talk him down.’

It was a fair bit to chew over… but it wasn’t a bad take, not for his first time. ‘I believe you.’ There were no rules against paying the fella a visit a couple months down the line. Maybe he’d take Kabal. Maybe he’d learn a thing or two. As it was, he only frowned back at Kano like he was waiting for the hammer to fall. ‘You’ll get wrinkles doing that.’

‘Just a natural reflex when you’re around.’

Kano laughed. He reached for Kabal’s shoulder to give it a squeeze, and Christ, he was tense. Kano squeezed again and sank his fingers deeper. The cut on his chest panged. ‘After all I’ve done for you, you can’t manage to slap on a smile when you see me?’

Evidently not; Kabal shot him a dry look for his trouble. Kano barked out another laugh.

‘You did alright, Kabal,’ he went on, running his hand from his shoulder back to that pretty little bruise on his bicep.

He looked at where Kano touched him, and muttered: ‘Glowing praise.’

A thumb fit perfectly in the crook of Kabal’s elbow. He was warm, his black shirt clingy from the sweat, and the twisting knot in Kano’s stomach loosened here and tightened elsewhere. He should’ve hitched back into the city, tonight. Bright lights and bad drinks might’ve been just the thing.

‘Something’s got you spaced out, huh?’

Kano met his eyes, and Kabal gave a little questing shake of his head when he didn’t answer immediately.

‘It’s been a long day, mate. Don’t mind me. Can’t say I was expecting company.’

‘That’s why you left the door unlocked?’

Kano let go of him to point a finger. ‘We’d be target practise right now if I’d done that. Who was here before you?’

Kabal shrugged, but Kano let the spark of irritation flare uselessly without catching alight. It wasn’t worth busting him for - if he  _ had _ left the doors unlocked, he bloody well wouldn’t do it again after tonight.

He straightened up then, took quick stock of the place and listened for any telltale hummings that shouldn’t be humming; SF did have bugs, after all. When Kano looked back, Kabal was staring at him with that half-formed question, so he caught him by the chin before he could spit it out.

‘You look different from the last time I saw you,’ he said, turning his head this way and that before letting go.

‘You’re just getting old, Kano. I’m still the same,’

He hummed, but he wasn’t convinced. Something had changed. He was certain. Usually when Kano got this close to him he could place what he saw in his eyes. Respect, even if it was a grudging sort, a sliver of fear, curiosity about what would come next and what his part would be. Tonight… the frown wasn’t so harsh but it was still  _ there _ , and whatever was in his eyes was hard to describe. Confusion came closest, which was only maddeningly confusing in and of itself.

Brown eyes like the damn Baby Jesus on a criminal.

‘Are you gonna tell me if I should be worried?’ Kabal pressed.

The years had made him harder, crueler. How could Kano not be proud? Still, it was a bit of a shame.

Kano rubbed at his jaw. He’d opened his mouth to speak when a soft  _ creak _ startled them both.

‘Well, well, well. Ain’t this a pretty picture. Our little family back together again.’

This was usually the point in a nightmare when he woke up. Kabal jerked free. Never did like talking about family, that one, pretend or otherwise, and in strode Erron Black with two thumbs hooked into his belt loops. The moment ebbed away like so much water down a drain.

‘And to what do we owe this pleasure, Mr. Black?’ Kano called with a mock bow. Erron smirked back, humourlessly.

‘Same thing as always, Kano.’

‘Only one thing on your mind, the lot of you.’ he spat. ‘The boys in the city could’ve sorted you out.’

‘I’m not going back into town. I need paying now. I’ll be a long time Outworld, see. I got some preparations to make’ Erron said, narrowing his eyes beneath the brim of his hat.

Kano shook his head. The fact that a grown man in chaps was trying to muscle money out of him was the cherry on top of a crap day. ‘Better make them good. Outworld’s a dangerous place for one cowboy on his own.’

‘Who says I’ll be on my own?’

‘Oh, cut the shit. This isn’t a bloody stand-off.’ He gestured, and behind him he thought he heard Kabal laugh. ‘Go through and keep your hands to yourself. We’ll talk.’

Erron tipped his head and went on his way between the shelves, jangling. The shadow he cast was strange and stretched as the light struggled to reach him from the corridor, and Kano watched him retreat with a certain amount of displeasure. They’d all done alright for themselves, evidently. Aside from him. Oh, Black was going to love this. And to think - he’d thought the evening might have been shaping up pretty decent.

‘Kano?’

Kabal had tilted his head, peering at him.

Yeah. It might have been a decent night if…

‘What is it, sunshine?’ The smile felt more like a grimace, and he won a pointed look for the nickname.

_ Mind you, _ he wondered to himself, not chancing to pick up where the previous train of thought had derailed, not exactly.  _ It might be salvageable. _

‘Nothing.’ Kabal stood straight and sucked in a heavy breath. ‘I got a couple things I need to go over before I get my head down. Are you staying?’

‘Staying?’

‘Here? Tonight.’

The thin slice cut across Kano’s shoulder twinged, and moreso when he tested the muscle beneath it. A good ache. It’d be fine. ‘I suppose I am. After I turf Dolly bloody Parton out.’

Kabal smiled just a touch. It was his way, his  _ thing _ . As if he’d shatter into a hundred pieces if he grinned or laughed without biting it back. ‘Right.’

With that, he left, but stopped two steps away when Kano called his name. His profile split the light on his face. Erron hadn’t bothered to close the doors behind him.

‘Don’t stray too far, Kabal. I’ll be needing a word before you cosy up.’

There was an edge on Kano’s voice he hadn’t intended, and when he spoke he saw the shiver go through Kabal. He should’ve clarified. As it was, he preferred a close encounter and a slower game.

  
  


\\\////\\\\\\\//

  
  


‘So,’ Kabal let the word hang. ‘I’m here.’

That he was. He’d done more bladework from the looks of him. Sweat glimmered at the high points of his cheeks, his brow, and a touch across the top of his collarbones from what Kano could see inside his shirt. He snuffed out a cigarette on the desk and tossed the butt away. Kabal promptly ignored the chair he kicked out for him.

‘Let’s talk about your little trip.’

‘Alright,’ Kabal raised a brow. ‘I did already tell you. Deal’s as good as gold, we’ll see returns in a m-’

‘You’d say it went well, then?’

‘I… yeah? What part  _ didn’t _ go well? Nobody died. Nobody knew I was there and they’re not gonna. I made sure. I was too-’

Kano leaned forward, perched on the edge of a bed that was more a slab, really. He smirked. ‘Fast? Pull the other one, mate.’

‘I don’t get why you’re giving me the third degree, Kano. After what you said before? Is this a test? Was I meant to tear the place up? Bring you back a bunch of heads instead of a deal? A solid fucking deal? I can go back if you want,’ Kabal snapped, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.

‘Nah. Job’s a goodun.’

Kabal just gaped at him for a moment. Then, deflated. ‘Something’s not right with you tonight, I swear.’

_ And whose fault is that?  _ Kano didn't want to linger on the fact for all it made his heart thump in his chest. When he stood, he enjoyed the inches he had on Kabal. The room seemed to shrink around them.

An office once, back in the warehouse’s life, but in its undeath it was serving as Kano’s room. A shitty bed, desk, cooler and a couple of chairs and plug sockets. The very lap of Black Dragon luxury. Kabal swallowed when Kano cut the distance even thinner.

‘You made one hell of a fuss about this job, Kabal.’

‘Because I knew I could do it.’ he barked back, quieter than he had been, but resolute. ‘And I  _ did _ .’

‘Y’did, sure. Well done.’ Kano narrowed his eyes. ‘Wanna know how my day went? Picking up your slack after you turned your nose up?’

‘Bad, I’m guessing. What happened?’

He snorted. ‘Now he’s interested.’

The veneer slipped long enough for frustration to melt into Kabal’s eyes. ‘You seem like you want me to be, Kano.’

_ Want _ . The word prickled beneath his skin. Kabal’s eyelashes were casting half-moon shadows across the tops of his cheeks. Kano shook his head. ‘I told them what I told you. A drop-off. Simple as they come, get in and out in an hour or less.’

‘Who’s them?’

‘The two kids we took on about six months back. Pretty fresh.’

‘You gave the job to them?’ Kabal asked.

‘They  _ offered _ . You know I reward initiative,’ Kano pressed a fingertip into Kabal’s chest, and saw his eyes flicker down between their bodies. ‘Don’t much matter. We won’t be seeing them again.’

‘Hostages?’

‘Or worse. Ain’t heard from them in a week. Reckon we’d have demands by now if they’d been got.’

Kano watched Kabal chew it all. What was grinding at him most, he wondered, watching his eyes flicker to the side. Was it that the two lads were probably playing tea party with Ms. Blade? Or was it more that it could’ve been  _ him _ ?

There were darker flecks of honey-brown in Kabal’s eyes. They caught the light different.

‘So,’ Kabal started, pressing the word out heavily again. The mask was back in place; the wolf bearing its teeth. ‘because those kids bit off more than they could chew, that’s  _ my _ fault? It’s my fault they couldn’t just do as they were told and walk away?’ He scoffed. ‘That… is bullshit, Kano.’

‘Course, they might really be dead.’ Kano replied seriously.

‘We’re all gonna be, one way or another. Maybe your next hires will have something between their ears.’

Damn, Kano had to laugh. He remembered a boy - nineteen, eighteen? A lot of dark hair and glassy eyes, falling into the building and stammering that he was going to die. He wasn’t, he was overdosing, small difference at the time, maybe, but Kabal had been Black Dragon when he woke up the next day.

‘Here’s hoping, eh?’ Kano thumbed at the collar of Kabal’s shirt.

‘I’m not gonna apologise.’

‘Did I ask you to?’ Kano tugged. ‘If you’re gonna come sit at the big boy table, you’re gonna have to learn. Pride gets people killed, and we got enough people gunning for us without your big mouth.’

Kabal prickled. ‘You think I don’t know that?’

Kano tugged his collar again, harder this time, and Kabal braced himself before he could stumble into him.

‘Listen!’

‘I am-’

‘You’re not,’ Kano frowned. ‘I’m telling you, there’s a place for you at my side. If you want it. If you think you’re up for it under all this flapping about you keep doing.’

Kabal set his jaw. ‘I’m supposed to say no, aren’t I?’

‘You’re  _ supposed _ to thank me,’ Kano half-laughed. The tightness was peeling away from him, though he couldn’t pinpoint when it’d knotted so tightly in the first place. ‘But don’t waste your breath.’

Kabal didn’t. Admittedly, it probably had less to do with any actual desire to shut up than the fact that Kano was unfastening his shirt. The buttons slipped between his thumb and forefinger easily enough. Something warm flooded him from the inside out. Three, four… and he was pleased to find Kabal’s chest was damp. Wonderfully firm and toned. Smooth, too. Kano hummed appreciatively after swiping his fingertips across his chest.

All the ferocity drained away. Kabal’s voice, when he spoke, was a touch above a whisper.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Smack yourself on the head with those swords, love? What’s it look like?’

Wordless, Kabal just gaped.

‘About bloody time if you ask me.’ Kano added. He stopped short of undoing each and every button to set his palm flat on Kabal’s stomach, and inhaled, feeling him shiver against his skin.

‘I thought you had other people for this now,’

Kano smiled. ‘Well, well. Jealous?’

‘Bored?’

‘Maybe,’ he said, and Kabal scoffed. ‘I might have really missed you, what then?’ Did everything have to have a damn reason? Evidently so. He could practically hear the cogs working in Kabal’s head.

But, he didn’t push him away. Kano kept at it.

Outside, a breeze made the old roof groan but it was far from cold. Kano liked that. Kabal’s skin kept its glimmer when he pushed his hand further into his shirt. Warm, with just the right resistance between soft skin and hard muscle beneath. He had only a slight down of hair leading into his jeans, and Kano dug in his nails, hoping for… something. A reaction, a smile, a moan of shameless pleasure.

The thought went straight between his legs. In reality, Kabal was still gawping blankly at him. Irritation rode in hot on the heels of a spike of anticipation.

‘Are you gonna stop playing cold fish?’ Kano said, pairing the words with another firm push.

Kabal came back to himself like he was breaking the surface of a daydream that’d dragged him deep. He swallowed. Kano watched his throat work, and growled low when Kabal went to kneel. He caught him by the scruff and dragged him back upright.

‘Don’t be stupid.’

‘What?’

Kano tightened his fingers at the back of Kabal’s shirt. His eyes shone, that glint in them Kano had given up trying to place.

They didn’t really talk about this. A handful of rushed encounters over the last year or so - simple jobs, the sort of thing they walked away from in opposite directions.

‘Kano, my memory’s not that bad. This is what you usually want,’ Kabal gestured at the floor, then at his cock.

Well, he wasn’t wrong. And they were good memories, looking back. Kabal on his knees after a mission gone  _ right _ , a desperate scuffle in an alley that’d splattered blood across his nose and made his pulse thud in his ears, and a release like thunder when Kabal moaned around him.

‘There’s something wrong with you tonight. I don’t know w-’

Kano cut him short with a kiss that was all take at first. Two hands on Kabal’s collars, he forced his back to the wall and slipped his tongue into his mouth as he gasped. He didn’t let up when Kabal tried to catch his breath. Instead, he curled his fingers around that pretty throat again. Rushing heat stripped away any cognisant thought that wasn’t the feeling of Kabal’s lips on his, and he only realised when he broke for air himself that Kabal had been kissing him back.

Oh, they’d never played this game. They’d come close, but Kano had never felt the tug this keenly and Kabal kept himself maddeningly busy. Now, things were muddier. Warmer and closer, just like the air in the room simmering in a midsummer heat. Kabal’s eyes were blown and his breath was shallow. Kano released his throat with a swipe.

Kabal made a small noise. ‘Must have been a bad day.’

It wasn’t worth answering. Kano pressed in with another kiss; less harsh, but still as fierce. His shirt hung off his shoulders now, and Kano smirked when heard him swear, running rough fingers up the plane of his stomach.

The kiss deepened. Such a good lad. He’d always been his, really.

A tingling spread to the tips of Kano’s fingers and he pressed Kabal bodily to the wall to combat it spreading further. He curbed his thoughts, too; it was a fine balancing act, but  _ this _ , the hard lines of Kabal’s body and his responding, well, it was a decent distraction. There’d be plenty of miserable nights to come where he could wonder why it felt like he’d been waiting to do this.

Now, as it was, Kabal let him lap into his mouth. He was sighing, even, and trying gently to match him with his own tongue. Wasn’t that precious? Kano challenged it deeper, again and again, and laughed gruffly when Kabal managed a broken curse against his lips.  _ Fucker. _

A good sign if there ever was one. Kano bowed to pay his dues to Kabal’s neck, where his skin was soft and his pulse was quicker than a jackrabbit. He took a swipe with his tongue, then a bite, then another, harder. There’d be a bruise tomorrow, and Erron would damn well see it. Kano’s fingers tightened in Kabal’s hair.

He was saying something else but there was too much softness in his voice, which wasn’t going to do. Kano bit down harder and sucked, and finally Kabal reached out for him. His hands grabbed at his belt - but didn’t pull, he was a good boy, after all. Kano forced a knee between Kabal’s thighs and felt the groan tear through him.

‘Never heard you sing like that before,’

‘That’s because,’ he started with a deliberate breath. ‘you’re usually finished by now,’

Kano had to laugh. ‘You’re insulting yourself there too, y’idiot,’

‘Yeah, well. We all get old. It’s fine,’

Teasing now? He liked this. It was why Kabal had done so well for himself - not  _ this _ , precisely, not the kissing - but this stubborn toe-to-toe thing he had with anyone who tried to shift their weight around or look at him down the blade of a knife. Which was most people in their line of work.

He  _ had _ missed him. That miserable frown, the eyes, the way he’d chew his lip sat in a grungy corner pretending to drink a beer that was full and unopened.

The thud in his chest changed and closed in again, and Kano had to strike to keep it from caging him in. Roughly, he cupped the bulge between Kabal’s legs and won himself a startled growl.

‘Gone shy again? Or were you expecting dinner first?’

‘None of this is what I was expecting,’

In one swift move, Kano wrenched Kabal away from the wall by his arm and pushed him onto the ramshackle bed. It creaked under his weight, and again when Kano joined him, straddling his hips. He tilted his head with a beggering smile.

‘No?’

Kabal laughed dryly, words failing him again. But realisation cleared the haze away. ‘Is this why you’ve been like this all night?’

‘Like what?’

‘Real  _ friendly _ .’

Kano slipped out his knife and drove it point-first into the side table near Kabal’s head, hard enough so that’d it’d stand on its own. Kabal didn’t flinch, he didn’t even look at it. There was that anticipation on his face again. The  _ what next _ that usually pertained to a bust-up or a contract, not a fuck.

‘Kano-’

He rolled his hips hard and cut Kabal short, and a rush of colour caught in his cheeks.

‘You gonna tell me to stop, is that it?’ Kano asked.

Kabal was good and riled now - the evidence was clear enough, pressing into his thigh, and he shook his head. 

‘I’m tryna figure out how much shit I’m gonna be in tomorrow when you wake up sober and remember this,’ he gestured between them, and it was Kano’s turn to shoot him a blank look. Kabal had had his tongue down his throat and still thought he was drunk?

‘I’m dry, sunshine.’

Evidently, that didn’t explain matters any. Kabal drew his brows together. ‘Then why-’

Again with the  _ thinking _ . Kano closed a hand around Kabal’s throat and shushed him. ‘Easy, tiger. Unless you wanna be finishing yourself off with your hand.’

Oddly enough, Kabal laughed. Kano watched the smile come and go and felt an idea bubble. It wasn’t anything new. He’d mulled it over idly, like flipping a coin between his knuckles, but he’d never expected to be in a position where he could reach out and  _ do  _ it. Kano swallowed, then pressed his thumb to Kabal’s lower lip.

He took him in keenly and sucked, and…  _ fucking Gods above _ , but it was good. And probably pathetic. Kano growled in his throat and leaned forward, setting more pressure on Kabal’s throat. He replaced his thumb with two forefingers, then, and bit back another low noise. A wicked tongue on this one.

Kabal rolled his hips. Kano ground harder.

‘There’s a good boy,’

A glare. ‘Don’t start with that,’ Kabal said, once Kano had slipped his fingers free.

‘I think,’ Kano cupped his face, turning it. ‘you’ve been waiting for  _ that _ since you came on with us.’

Flush breaths punctuated the silence, and Kabal didn’t answer save to look at him. The frown was gone, the cold  _ cut _ in his eyes, too. He was staring at Kano’s lips.

He gave his face a squeeze. ‘Answer me.’

The eyes flickered back up.

‘If you say so.’

Kano pushed his hips forward over a hard cock. ‘Never were a good liar, Kabal.’

‘I don’t lie with my dick. Not most of the time,’

‘A bloody good job as well, ain’t it? Sit up.’

He did, and the bed complained about it. Kabal pulled off his belt and his jeans were tossed aside on the floor. The shirt went, too, then his underwear, and he watched Kano watching him.

‘What?’

Kano shrugged. ‘Admiring the view.’

‘Christ,’ Kabal muttered, sitting back down. He was waiting, Kano realised - for him to say something? Make a comment? Maybe he would’ve if he’d had the capacity. He’d seen Kabal in various stages of undress before but never in a room like this on a night that’d gone like tonight. He was lean and hard, bulkier. Picture perfect, really.

And smaller, too. Kano wasn’t stupid; machismo played a hell of a big part in the Black Dragon culture. Half the kids that hung around the cage at all hours of the morning fought and died and cracked skulls because it gave them their teeth. They probably crawled into a motel and lost sleep staring at the ceiling like the rest of them. Kabal, though, he’d always been isolated from all that, or so Kano thought.

A shadow draped across his face again, he looked to the wall, and Kano was struck with an urge to wipe it away, as if he could. Instead, he shuffled over and clapped a hand twice on his cheek.

‘Back in the room, mate.’ he smiled. ‘And on your back. I’ll do the heavy work,’ A tilt of his head. ‘As usual.’

Kabal’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak and faltered once before the words came. ‘Yeah?’

‘Surprised?’

‘Just didn’t think you’d let anyone.’

‘Think of it as paying me back, eh?’ Kano said. Kabal nodded, and he couldn’t help but wonder what was rattling around in that head of his. Disappointment? Was he hoping to get fucked hard and fast against the wall tonight? Well, it wasn’t a bad idea, exactly.

‘’Cause doing my actual job isn’t good enough.’

Kano ran his thumb along Kabal’s collarbone. ‘Worried you’re not up to the task? Must’ve been a while for you, I reckon. Or if this is your first time, I can-’

‘Please,’

The gap between them closed in a blink, and Kano smirked into the kiss when it hit him, trailing his fingers from that pretty collarbone to tickle down Kabal’s sides. The initiative was nice, and the kiss itself lingered for longer than it really needed to. Kabal sank onto his back and brought Kano with him, easily enough. He was good at this; he didn’t push too hard, he could make him want more when he wanted it too, he could open him up with a curl of his tongue. Kano knew when he was being played, but the game wasn’t all that bad. Actually, it was-

‘-disgusting.’

He pulled away with a frown. ‘What’s that, now?’

‘You.’ Kabal said, wryly. And, anticipating the  _ why _ , he gave Kano’s thigh an open-handed  _ smack. _ His pants were halfway down them… which he hadn’t noticed.  _ Jesus. _ Kano pulled a rough kiss from him for the insult - he’d packed light. Khakis were enough to cover his ass! Kabal smirked. ‘You walk around like this?’

‘I don’t reckon you’d last otherwise,’

‘That’d be worse for you than me.’ The smirk reappeared.

And right he was. Kano shuffled forward on the bed to reach for the battered old bedside table; the Black Dragon could enjoy a domestic veneer as much as the next crook. He rifled through the old ammunition caps, bottle tops and plastic ties before finding what he was after. Kabal saw too. Kano smiled and leaned in close to him with the intention of a kiss before pulling back a breath before their lips touched.

This play was… unlike anything else with anybody else. It was familiar to tease but not to enjoy it like  _ this. _ Kabal had a fist balled into the sheets; he was getting better each day at reining in that temper of his, but he had hot blood and an explosive fuse. When he parted his lips, expectant, he paired it with a hand settled at the nape of Kano’s neck.

Kano bit at his lower lip and denied him again.

‘Are we gonna do this?’ Kabal said, lowly with a quirk of a brow. ‘Or are you just gonna fuck around?’

‘Eager,’

‘Aren’t you?’

Was he really asking? Kano mumbled under his breath and cut off a reply with a kiss. It wasn’t so bruising as the others, but deeper and slower. It let him coax up a rhythm, small pushes turned into longer  _ drags _ of his hips, until one hard thrust had Kabal cutting a moan short.

‘Attaboy,’ Kano whispered. He opened his eye long enough to see a grudging smile turn the corners of Kabal’s mouth. Bent by impulse, he kissed that, too.

Not that he usually went in for this kind of touchy-feely shit. Foreplay or time wasting or  _ whatever _ . No, it was quick and hard when Kano wanted someone. Or else an expensive reward. Regardless, it was about  _ him _ in those instances,  _ his  _ itch, and maybe it still was.

It was something to keep afloat with whilst Kabal prepared him. Again, not something he always went in for, but there was a lot to be said for the way he let his hand sink between their bodies, between his legs, brushing the inside of his thighs before ever so carefully dipping into him. Kano nodded, and Kabal petted him with a crook of his finger. The anticipation stretched to an ache the further he pushed inside.

Kano bit down on Kabal’s neck when he felt a second. ‘You’ve done this before,’

‘And aren’t you glad,’

‘Who with?’ Kano pulled back to smirk but Kabal only rolled his eyes. He laughed then, but it was cut short with a shock that took hold of him tight and blind and sudden. Horribly. Wonderfully. And then it was Kabal’s turn to laugh. Kano muttered something he couldn’t even pick out himself through the shattered pieces. He felt him, fucking him with two clever fingers, and bit back until it was all he could do not to give in and fuck himself on them.

It was a different but equally special sort of hell when he withdrew altogether to slick his cock. When Kabal was done, or maybe a moment before, Kano took his chin firm in his hand. He wanted to see this.

Kabal didn’t try to look away, though his head sank back onto the pillow when he eased inside of him. And the moan was a thing of beauty, too.

‘Fuck,’ Kabal settled his hands on his hips and toyed with an experimental  _ thrust _ . That wouldn’t do. Kano knew nothing would unless he let himself go there, to that place he’d trying not to show his back to tonight, but now… Kano rolled his hips over Kabal’s cock. Good  _ lord  _ but it had been a while. It hurt, it burned through him beneath his skin and into the pit of his stomach. It was a bruise he was dying to press.

‘Fuck…’ Kabal whispered again.

‘That’s the idea,’ Kano gave Kabal’s cheek a pat, hoping this thing that stuck in his throat didn’t come through in his smirk. Kabal’s nails were dug in tight on his thighs, he was sweating, he was panting softly. And now, when he opened his eyes, he was frowning.

He shook his head. ‘How are you still talking?’

‘S’talent.’

‘Rude, that’s what it is,’

Did he expect any less? Kabal flexed his fingers and exhaled, melting into the bed and beneath him and picking up his movements again. Funny, he wasn’t so quick in bed. He was actively drawing it out. Slow, arduous thrusts that reminded Kano of the way he kissed. Kano let him have his bit of fun before steering it into a pace he was more familiar with, but Kabal had always played well; he fucked harder when he was told to do so, with nothing more to add other than a breathless  _ yes _ .

Occasionally he’d open his eyes and want something. Kano rebuffed him twice, carding rough fingers into his hair, but the third time ticked into place at the right second. Kano let go. He tested a hand around Kabal’s throat but he’d be damned if he’d cut off those pretty little gasps. A bead of sweat rolled down his back; Kabal sighed when he kissed him, though it wasn’t a particularly pretty one.

When he sighed his name, Kano felt the resistance snap, finally. He staggered to a stop for a second before finding himself again.

‘Are you-’ Kabal started. Kano silenced him with a finger to his lips that he quickly replaced with a kiss. It was fervent, it got him moving inside of him again. They fit into place.

The bed creaked and beat against the wall but they were both beyond caring. Kano rode him hard, knowing it’d only wound Kabal’s pride to do otherwise, and knowing they were probably both long past due a senseless fuck.  _ Senseless _ was the irony, really, seeing as Kano couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt quite like this. He sat up and set a hand on Kabal’s chest, and the new angle ripped a groan from the two of them, as well as a hissing curse from Kabal who was clearly working hard to keep from going over the edge.

The sight was sacreligious, and the sex was hard and fast and more desperate each time Kabal pushed forward and Kano met it, rocking through and sinking back onto his cock. Again, and again until he couldn’t think of a damn reason why they hadn’t been doing this from the start,

Kabal spread his fingers and gripped his ass to spread him a little further. A stab of a nascent orgasm turned in Kano’s gut. And somebody knocked on the door.

A long, slow roll of his hips ripped a growl from Kabal’s throat, and he waved a hand, uselessly, then jabbed a thumb at the door with a look that said  _ did you plan this _ ?

He hadn’t. Unfortunately, he could count on one ten-gallon  _ idiot  _ to bugger up even his worst laid plans.

‘What is it, Black?’

Kabal scoffed at him, eyes blown wide.

‘Can I come in?’ Erron asked, muffled on the other side of the door.

‘It’s past my bedtime, mate. Yours too.’

A hard  _ swat _ on his thigh pulled his attention back to Kabal, who mouthed, rather urgently:  _ what the hell are you doing?! _

Kano leaned forward and kissed his cheek. ‘You, carry on.’

Somehow, the kiss spread to his lips. Somehow, it lingered and deepened.

_ Oh, _ he was close.

‘Didn’t catch that, Kano?’ Erron tapped a knuckle on the door again.

Kabal gawped, and Kano only just managed to get a hand over his mouth in time to catch the moan that came out of him when he pushed back onto his cock. It only seemed right. They’d both not finished, after all. It was a hard stare that Kabal met him with, but his heart wasn’t in it. He moved with him again, shallowly.

‘What’re you flapping about?’ Kano called.

‘The pair you sent into the city. Remember them?’

Kano shot a glare at the door. ‘And?’

‘And they ain’t dead. Got word from the bunker; they made their way back.’

Kano met Kabal’s eyes and bit down on a buzz that wasn’t entirely relief. ‘Well, isn’t that good news. Are they in one piece?’

Erron laughed. ‘Mostly.’

That  _ was _ good, that was… it was… 

Kabal damn well knew what he was doing with these short, quick thrusts. He’d curled his fingers around Kano’s wrist, his hand still clapped on his mouth. It was just enough to keep Kano on that knife’s edge, not enough to let it simmer down again, not enough to spoil things. A bead of sweat melted into Kabal’s eyebrow, and on his neck the first of his bruises had begun to bloom.

What would he say tomorrow if anyone asked?  _ I fucked Kano? _

‘They want to know when you’ll be checkin’ in on them.’ Erron said.

‘Am I their father, am I?’ Kano scoffed. ‘Tell ‘em eventually, but don’t let them out on any more little adventures until I do. Kabal can sort this one out.’

‘Kabal?’

‘Yeah, seeing as the little shit wants to wear the pants these days.’

‘Here I thought you looked mighty glad to see him.’

‘And I bet you’ve written that in your journal, too.’

Kabal tilted his head on the pillow. His fingers flexed around Kano’s wrist.

‘And where is he, exactly?’

Kano won another frown for his trouble when he took his hand from Kabal’s mouth.  _ Here’s your chance _ , he thought to himself, but couldn’t have said what that chance was for. To call out? Kabal didn’t. He put a hand on Kano’s thigh and arched his back a little, and Kano felt it inside him, too.

‘How should I know? It’s not like we’re joined at the hip.’

The frown withered, replaced with an extraordinarily unamused look. Kano winked at him.

‘Sometimes I wonder. Alrighty then, I’ll hunt him down and give him the word.’

‘You do that.’

Kano gave Black to the count of ten to get out of earshot before revving things back up. All it took was another brisk kiss and a whispered command, and Kabal had flung an arm around his shoulder and was fucking him with that  _ need _ to impress that would’ve made Kano laugh if he wasn’t sinking into it, too.

He had a hand anchoring himself on the headboard as he rode, the other pawed at the side of Kabal’s face. ‘Come on,’ he started, and it all sounded a bit hazy. ‘Come on. That’s it. There’s a good boy, come on,’

Tomorrow, he wanted to feel this. Kabal didn’t answer, but his breathy sighs, that would here and there slip into a  _ moan _ that was like a fingernail along Kano’s spine, were enough. Kano took a hold of his own cock with a shaking hand and rode out the orgasm roughly as it tore through him. It pulled him apart at the seams, it stretched and ached and he came with a growl across Kabal’s stomach.

When his senses returned to him, Kano dragged a hand down his face and saw Kabal watching him. He was holding his breath. He’d stopped.

Again now, that wasn’t going to do. Kano caught his wrists and pinned them either side of his head on the pillow. He could feel the words between them, unshapen and rough and too odd to voice in a moment where everything, every  _ thing  _ in all the realms, was concentrated on this shitty bed in an even shittier warehouse. The sensitivity made Kano shiver, but he rode through his aftershocks and chased Kabal’s climax, too. Fair was fair. And he wanted… 

‘Oh,’ Kabal started, as though he was surprised it was happening at all. ‘ _ Oh _ …’

Kano caught him by the chin before he came and watched him rise and crest inside him. It passed over his face deliciously; an expression so close to pain, softening to exhaustion, the kind that only came when you’d almost fucked yourself to death.

Kabal’s eyes refocused and Kano let him go.

For a moment, he wanted to kiss him, but it was finished now. It was passed. They shouldn’t.

Still, it was a wonderfully raw feeling when he eased himself off Kabal’s cock and stretched, sitting upright and breathing hard. Kabal took longer to come to.

‘Disappointed?’ Kano asked.

‘No.’ Kabal half-laughed, half-gasped.

Well, good. Kano watched him sit up, and reached to brush the hair from his face. It’d be easy enough to lean in closer, and Kabal might have accepted it, even. He swallowed when their eyes met.

Such a pretty thing. Kabal would have had a decent enough life without the Black Dragon. Shitty, poor and probably bored miserable, but…

‘Get dressed.’

‘Yes sir,’ Kabal said with a mock salute.

Kabal stood to collect his clothes, and Kano caught him with a smack on the ass when he bent over.

‘Turnabout’s fair play next time.’

‘Fine,’ Kabal didn’t miss a step. Kano reached to pick his shirt up for him. ‘But I don’t just lie down like you.’

That was… _what?_ _Fine?_

Kano watched dumbly whilst Kabal fastened his jeans. His face was serious, hard even, but he could only hold it for another second or so before he broke into a laugh. It was just a bark, and the smile turned the corners of his mouth.

Kano blinked.

‘On your way, Romeo.’ he grinned, and aimed the shirt at his head.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading yall! xoxo
> 
> also also ,, check out 10-20-40 by rina sawayama for a bruh (kabal) moment


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